1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a system and method for optimal selection of payment authorizations in a complex commerce system. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for optimally selecting a payment authorization using an algorithm along with commerce system rules, and applying a payment deposit to the selected payment authorization in order to receive funds for shipped goods.
2. Description of the Related Art
Online commerce has become a preferred method among consumers and businesses for purchasing goods. A typical online commerce system functions in three stages, which are an order capture stage, an order fulfillment stage, and a shipment stage. During the order capture stage, the online commerce system validates payment details and may verify that a customer has enough available funds for the order. At this stage, the online commerce system may also reserve a required amount of funds from an external payment provider by receiving a payment authorization.
When goods are available to fulfill all or part of an order, the order (or partial order) enters the order fulfillment stage, and the online commerce system releases the goods to a warehouse for shipment. If the online commerce system has not yet requested a payment authorization, the online commerce system may do so in the order fulfillment stage.
When the goods are ready to ship, the online commerce system creates a payment deposit equaling the value of the goods, and selects a payment authorization for which to apply the payment deposit in order to receive funds from the external payment provider. A challenge found is that when multiple payment authorizations exist for a particular customer, current online commerce systems do not have a well-defined approach for selecting the best payment authorization, especially when partial orders are shipped. The choice of the payment authorization has a direct bearing on the number of transactions required to process the payment for a given order.
In order to avoid facing the decision of which payment authorization to match with a payment deposit, many online commerce systems split an order into smaller orders. This approach, however, leads to complexities with discounts, promotions, and order processing issues. In addition, this approach may lead to the online commerce system requesting more payment authorizations from an external payment provider, which adds to cost. Furthermore, this approach becomes more complex when order releases include varying amounts and multiple payment methods.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for selecting an optimum payment authorization for applying a payment deposit in a complex commerce system.